WEDNESDAY VOLUME XXVI NUMBER 11 Section 1 10 pages
March 17, 2021 Home of the ‘Lone Star Flag’ and
Robert Walker
Montgomery County’s Only Locally Owned Newspaper
Established 1995
Montgomery County News
Montgomery, Texas 77356
50
Weekly
PRE-SRT POSTAGE PD #80 MONTG. TX
PBOX Magnolia, TX 77353
Texas History Weekly
Was Made
Gas Prices (March 15, 2021) - Texas gas prices have risen 9.8 cents per gallon in the past week, a v e r a g i n g $ 2 . 6 1 / g t o d a y, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 13,114 stations in Texas. Gas prices in Texas are 42.1 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 63.6 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Texas is priced at $1.99/g today while the most expensive is $3.49/g, a difference of $1.50/g. The lowest price in the state today is $1.99/g while the highest is $3.49/g, a difference of $1.50/g. The national average price of gasoline has risen 5.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.86/g today. The national average is up 33.2 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 64.0 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. Neighboring areas and their current gas prices: Midland Odessa- $2.85/g, up 11.5 cents per gallon from last week's $2.74/g. San Antonio- $2.52/g, up 9.4 cents per gallon from last week's $2.42/g. Austin- $2.54/g, up 7.7 cents per gallon from last week's $2.46/g. "As Americans turn optimistic on COVID-19 pandemic recovery, we've been seeing insatiable demand for gasoline, which continues to recover far faster than oil production. According to GasBuddy data, last week's gasoline demand was just 1% below the pre-pandemic level, an extremely bullish factor likely to continue driving gas and oil prices up in the short term," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. "The recovery in the last few weeks has been astounding- both the speed and overall volume increases we've seen in our data lend credibility to the recovery, and perhaps will lead to continued price increases due to the continued imbalance between supply and demand. It's no longer a question of if we'll see gasoline demand return to near normal this year but when, and will oil producers rise to the occasion and be able to quickly ramp up output, or are we going to see the highest summer prices since 2014 until they jump into action? Only time will tell, but it's looking like things are heating up far more than expected since the start of the year." GasBuddy is the authoritative voice for gas prices and the only source for stationlevel data spanning nearly two decades. Unlike AAA's once daily survey covering credit card transactions at 100,000 stations and the Lundberg Survey, updated once every two weeks based on 7,000 gas stations, GasBuddy's survey updates 288 times every day from the most diverse list of sources covering nearly 150,000 stations nationwide, the most comprehensive and up-to-date in the country. GasBuddy data is a c c e s s i b l e a t http://FuelInsights.GasBuddy.c om. SOURCE GasBuddy
Index Community..........2, 3, 9, 10 Commentary............................4 Devotional..........................5 Legals.........................6, 7, 8 Business Directory...........10
Article by Mark Hooker Photos Courtesy of Debbie Pietsch After Saturday’s Texas High School Bass Association Houston Division Tournament on Lake Conroe, I thought I would have no problem with writing this article. Truth of the matter is, I along with others present, were in awe of what these young men and women of the MISD Fishing Team just accomplished. Let’s start with the tournament itself. Coming into Saturday’s event, your MISD Fishing Team had the goal of winning, but by how much was Historic in and of itself. The top 3
Teams for Montgomery were unbelievably, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, with a total weight of 68.87 pounds! That’s right, it’s not a misprint, MISD’s top 3 teams had almost 69 pounds of fish for their top 3 Teams, easily outdistancing our closest competitor by over 20 pounds!! With MISD coming in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, catching 68.87 pounds, and winning by over 20 pounds, all three accomplishments were firsts for this program. “History Was Made.” Leading the combined squad for MISD was Sofy Hartman, fishing Solo in this event, and per THSBA rules, accompanied by her
Mother as an official observer, and as well by her Captain. The pressure was on Sofy, as prior to the event, she was just above the cutline to make it to Regionals. She also had the pressure of being in the boat Captained by one of our “Local Legends,” Trea Luedke. Sofy responded like I knew she would, but how she did it left us all with our mouths open. She stunned the crowd with an awesome 5 fish limit of 24.20 pounds, anchored by a 9.92 whopper! Another first for the program, a new Solo Team record for an event. “History Was Made.” Our Second Place Team of brothers Zach & Jake
Hird are no strangers for doing well for the combined squad. This formidable tandem brought an awesome 5 fish limit to the scales, which weighed in at 23.12 pounds. This Team has been a consistent force for MISD all season, and will be a Team that the MISD Fishing Team will be counting on at the Regional Tournament to be held at Lake Palestine in April. Coming in Third for MISD was a pair of Anglers that definitely responded to the pressure and magnitude of the event. Garrett “Outdoors”
See MISD, page 2
Funds Awarded To Help Those Affected By The Severe Winter Weather The Woodlands, Texas – The recent severe arctic weather that paralyzed much of Texas took its toll on Montgomery County residents. In recognition of the lost wages Montgomery County residents suffered and the extraordinary expenses resulting from the loss of power and broken pipes, the board of the Montgomery County Community Foundation awarded grants to two local nonprofits. This allowed them to act quickly as residents find themselves in financial binds at the beginning of March. C o m m u n i t y Assistance Center received $27,281 to help pay utilities bills, rent or mortgages and other extraordinary expenses for qualified Montgomery County residents affected by the four day shut down. Montgomery County Food Bank received $27,281 to purchase and distribute food. The Food Bank has experienced
Attached photos courtesy of The Woodlands Children's Museum.
In response to the severe winter weather that impacted Texas in February, Montgomery County Community Foundation awarded Community Assistance Center $27,281 and Montgomery County Food Bank $27,281 to help Montgomery County residents. Pictured left to right: Montgomery County Community Foundation Board Chair Amanda Trapp, Community Assistance Center Executive Director Jennifer Landers, Montgomery County Food Bank President and CEO Kristine Marlow and Montgomery County Community Foundation President and CEO Julie Martineau. increased requests for food. Both organizations were selected for their
ability to serve large areas across Montgomery County.
See Funds, page 10
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U.S. Small Business Administration Disaster Loans for Businesses, P r i v a t e Nonprofits, Homeow n ers and Renters SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans Available to Texas Small Businesses SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Small nonfarm businesses in 1 6 6 Te x a s c o u n t i e s a n d neighboring counties in New Mexico and Oklahoma are now eligible to apply for low interest federal disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, announced Director Tanya N. Garfield of SBA’s Disaster Field Operations Center-West. These loans offset economic losses because of reduced revenues caused by drought in the following primary counties that began Nov. 1, 2020. Primary Texas counties: Andrews, Aransas, Armstrong, Atascosa, Bailey, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Borden, Brazos, Brewster, Briscoe, Brooks, Brown, Burleson, Caldwell, Cameron, Castro, Childress, Cochran, Coleman, Collingsworth, Comal, Concho, Crane, Crockett, Crosby, Culberson, Dallam, Dawson, Deaf Smith, Dickens, Dimmit, Donley, Duval, Ector, Edwards, El Paso, Floyd, Frio, Gaines, Garza, Gillespie, Glasscock, Gray, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hale, Hall, Hardeman, Hays, Hemphill, Hidalgo, Hockley, Howard, Hudspeth, Irion, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Kendall, Kenedy, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, La Salle, Lamb, Lee, Llano, Loving, Lubbock, Lynn, Martin, Mason, Maverick, McCulloch, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Midland, Milam, Mills, Motley, Nueces, Oldham, Parmer, Pecos, Presidio, Randall, Reagan, Real, Reeves, Refugio, Roberts, Runnels, San Patricio, San Saba, Starr, Sterling, Swisher, Terrell, Terry, Tom Green, Travis, Upton, Uvalde, Va l Ve r d e , Wa r d , We b b , Wheeler, Willacy, Williamson, Wilson, Winkler, Yoakum, Zapata and Zavala; N e i g h b o r i n g Te x a s counties: Bee, Burnet, Calhoun, Callahan, Carson, Coke, Comanche, Coryell, Cottle, Eastland, Falls, Fayette, Foard, Goliad, Gonzales, Hamilton, Hansford, Hartley, Hutchinson, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kent, King, Kleberg, Lampasas, Leon, Lipscomb, Live Oak, Madison, McLennan, Mitchell, Montgomery, Moore, Nolan, Ochiltree, Potter, Robertson, Schleicher, Scurry, Sherman, Stonewall, Sutton, Taylor, Vi c t o r i a , Wa l k e r, Wa l l e r, Washington and Wilbarger; Neighboring New Mexico counties: Curry, Dona Ana, E d d y, L e a , O t e r o , Q u a y, Roosevelt and Union; Neighboring Oklahoma counties: Beckham, Cimarron, Ellis, Harmon, Jackson and Roger Mills. “SBA eligibility covers both the economic impacts on businesses dependent on farmers and ranchers that have suffered agricultural production losses caused by the disaster and businesses directly impacted by the disaster,” Garfield said. Small nonfarm businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations of any size may qualify for Economic Injury Disaster Loans of up to $2 million to help meet financial obligations and operating expenses which could have been met had the disaster not occurred. “Eligibility for these loans is based on the financial impact of the disaster only and not on any actual property damage. These loans have an interest rate of 3 percent for businesses and 2 percent for private nonprofit
See Loans, page 10